Catching Up

That last post sat in the outbox for a while so lots of progress has been made since then -

• the staircases are in - no more climbing up ladders (though Jason had previously relented and let Margot have a look around. She of course clambered up to the attic like a squirrel)
• Peter the joiner has been busy putting in extra battens for me to hang our shelves on and the plumber to hang his WC and WHB. What looks neat and tidy on the architects drawing can suddenly get tricky when, say, the ventilation duct or soil pipe needs to go where the toilet was shown or the kitchen designer forgot that the waste pipe from the washing machine would get in the way of the fancy corner cupboard we had got so excited about in the showroom.
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• However with a bit of give and take it all gets resolved and its now ready for the plasterboard to go up internally
• Outside the roof has been finished with clay pantiles - round the edges of the solar panels at the rear and all over the front slope. I like the dormer over the stairs - I always prefer gable ends with big overhangs.
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• The external boarding is up ready for a coat of white render to the sides and rear (very mediterranean) but with tiles to the front
• Today we saw the solar panel suppliers van back so they must be installing the internal works - the panels are all electric so the water is heated via an immersion heater to a storage tank in a cupboard in the second bedroom.
• Oh,yes - we have a front door. Must be about ready for the first air test.

Meanwhile, when we have a sunny day I get on with the rear garden. The lawn area is ready for turf but we have decided to make the seating area in the veg plot a bit bigger and finish it with decking, like the patio, which I will do myself as soon as the scaffolding comes down. I have also made a new shed out of pallets and timber out of the skip. Even though we are paying the builder serious money to build our new home I can't shake the habits of a lifetime and see all that good stuff go to waste - its a parallel universe but I seem to be able to inhabit both simultaneously.

First Fix

The house is now house shaped and weatherproof, which leaves the external finishes - roof and walls - and the internal finishes. So the pressure was on for us to finally make up our minds on the detailed fixtures and fittings so the first fix plumber and electrician could get on with installing all the pipework and cabling needed before the plasterboard is put in.

First visit was back to Howdens for the kitchen.We had already agreed the layout but we need to make some adjustments and agree the internal features so back to Andy and his 3D design software for the last minute tweaks. Everything is apparently in stock so the actual purchase can wait but the joiner and the plumber both need to know what goes where so they can get on with their first fix.

Next an 8 o'clock meeting at PlumbCenter's showroom with the plumber. Turns out what looks neat and tidy on the architects drawing doesn't quite turn out so easy in practice. Pipes need space and one trade gets in the way of another and its only about now that these clashes raise their ugly head. Thankfully it can be made to  work with a bit of give and take and the bathrooms are going to be pretty much what we envisaged. We lose a bit of storage but we can live with that - and it saves some money too! I actually quite enjoy helping to resolve these issues, just like the old days when I had to work for a living.

Next I get to get on site and  take a look around. There is still no staircase as they needed to leave a space to get the windows in but its great to actually see the upper floors. We were not entirely sure whether we would want to use the upper (attic) floor as a study as it only has velux rooflights but in fact it is a lovely space - and  not being able to look out of the window will help avoid too may distractions. We went around  with Peter the joiner  to discuss where the shelving and storage would go so he could put extra noggins in and then with the electrical and  plumbing subcontractors. We seem to have ironed out the remaining issues, plus a few new ones due to the Heating and Ventilation ducting having gone in,

Jason nearly got himself into trouble by suggesting the site wasn't suitable for a lady but we managed to wriggle out of that one as I was the only on with steel soled boots. However he got all the offcuts cleared up pretty prompt and last Friday Margot was given the grand tour.

Thankfully she was OK  with the decisions we had made on her behalf so this week the plumber, electrician and joiner will all be onsite not to mention the roofers - the tiles for the front slope are  delivered and ready to go up. I however am down south dog-sitting for my sister so well out of it - except I have just had a call from Jason setting up a site meeting for Friday morning. Nothing serious I hope

Panels and Windows

Once the battens were in place the solar panels went in really quickly with a team of roofing subcontractors on site for just a couple of days.

 And then this week the windows arrived. Monday brought the four sliding doors for the two bedrooms and the ground floor to maximise the light to these south-facing rooms. They came perched on the back of a small truck and it was a nail-biting half-hour as the tele-porter transferred them onto the site. 

Today we got the smaller windows for the north facing rooms and by tonight they were all in place. Everything triple-glazed of course.

 

 

A week off

With nothing major scheduled until the 2nd June I was happy to leave Jason to get on with things while I went off to Somerset to help John Grimshaw build a cycle path from Weston-super-Mare to Brean Down including the world's biggest bird-hide. This was to protect the nesting redshanks from being traumatized by hordes of lycra clad cyclists passing by. And, no I didn't forget to take my spirit level, that's how the artist designed it.

Interestingly, it was made of larch which is what we will have to the front of our house so let's see how our builders get on.

Back today and the timber frame company are here putting in the door they forget to leave in the attic room (Kevin McCloud eat your heart out!), the outside battens are on, the internal membrane to make it airtight is in and the fitters are here preparing for the solar panels which are due to arrive later today,  These will not only collect the sun's rays but will also keep off the rain, avoiding the need for roof tiles on the south facing slope.

Stealth house

Its beginning to look even more like the house Phil designed with the pitched roof going on and even the dormer over the stairwell.

And then just today its been cloaked in a black breathable membrane - a bit like a gore-tex anorak - that makes it look like a stealth fighter plane. 

The joiner has set up shop on our drive and the roof battens are going on top ready for the solar PV panels that will make up the whole of the rear south-facing roof and supply all our electricity needs. Due on site 3rd May.

In the meantime I get on with the landscaping. The pond is back in shape, albeit smaller, and full of frog spawn. The retaining wall is finished and I am now levelling what will be a lawn fit for Wimbledon, albeit smaller. The aim is to have the landscaping ready at the same time as the house so the house-warming party can spread out into the garden.

Oops

By Friday night the walls were up to the eaves and the floors up to the first floor. Back on Monday the timber frame sub-contractors were finishing the walls, the first floor ceiling and the internal partitions. They are fast workers and the street echoes all day long with the sound of the nail gun.

And then a moment 'Grand Designs' would have relished. As I made my end-of- day snoop round the site taking the progress photographs I notice something not quite right. From the street you can see widows into the two bathrooms - the ensuite and the 'family' bathroom. Beyond you can see through the doors into the master bedroom.l But hang on, the family bathroom doesn't open into the master bedroom. Who needs two en-suites? (First world problems!). And how do we get out or into the bedroom? Out via the balcony?

I checked the plans and this was definitely wrong so I emailed Steve (this would happen on the one day Jason was ill and the sub-contractors had been on their own) who came round next morning to see what was what.

I left Steve to sort it out and I am not yet sure how they are going to rectify this but my guess is that the panel was correct but they put it in back to front. Unfortunately it was then nailed and glued so getting it undone again will be fun.

At least its not a structural wall so while they worked out what to do the guys carried on and tonight we have the gable ends up and at last it looks like a proper house.




And tonight an email from the solar panel company saying they will start on the 3rd May.






Postscript. Wednesday Night

The sub-contractors have switched the wall around and everything is back on track. And today the roof is nearly on and ready for the solar panels - due first or second week of May.

It was quiet ... too quiet ...

As we had managed to start slightly before the scheduled start date we (well, the contractor) got everything ready for the timber frame but it wasn't quite ready. So it looked like we had a couple of weeks respite.

Then, last Wednesday we got a  call from Steve on a bad connection but sounded something like 'scaffolders coming tomorrow'. Deciding to call in the morning to clarify the message but awoke to a lorry load of scaffolding pulling up outside. It seemed the timber frame was ready after all and could start on Monday if we could get the scaffold up in time. Fortunately it was the start of a lovely sunny spell and by Friday night our house was overshadowed by three floors of scaffold.

The scaffold went round three sides as the front had to be left open for the teleporter to lift the panels into place. Fortunately our nice neighbours at no. 14  were happy for us to brace our scaffold against the side of their house. Fingers crossed this would not result in a domino effect toppling the entire street.

Monday the teleporter arrived,

Tuesday a 40-ton artic turned up loaded with our house like some giant IKEA flat-pack. With some shuffling of cars we managed to make space for it across the road (we always park over the road to stop anyone else doing it - with 4 sites active on the street at the moment it gets a bit chaotic at times.) The teleporter then had to unload it all on to what will eventually be the drive way. Every time the teleporter had to bring the traffic to a stop as it straddled the road and then do a 10-point turn to get it pointing the right way.

But it got done and before long the SIPs team were busy putting it all together. SIPs (Structural Insulated Panel) is a system where insulation is sandwiched between two panels of OSB blockboard with a groove all round into which is glued and nailed a length of timber to hold it all together. Each panel is made to the right shape and size, with or without window or door openings, in a factory

so it arrives like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle. As I write it is nearly finished and its beginning to look like a house.

Next week the roof goes on. Second week of May we should get the windows and doors and then it wind and weathertight,